DJs vs live music

OK. I'm guilty of bashing DJs. Venues tend to pay them more than live bands (I'm talking about your standard fare bar/club), and on the surface, it seems that all DJs do is play other people's music through a fancy speaker system. Easy work, right? Heck of a lot easier than spending a bunch of time learning an instrument, memorizing lyrics, and coming up with an engaging act, no?

Well, from a venue's standpoint, DJs are prone to make far fewer mistakes than a live band (oh, but man does it hurt when a DJ makes a mistake). They can take requests more reliably than the average cover band, play to the vibe of the room, and have finger on the pulse of the current hits. 

But perhaps I'm being unfair to DJs and what it takes to be a good DJ. A good DJ has to have an ear not dissimilar from an arranger or musical director needs to have. This includes the ability to find rhythms, time signatures, key signatures, etc., that mesh well together. Timing is everything. Do you "keep the party going" or do you tactfully use silence to build suspense and anticipation? 

Ultimately, bands can learn a lot from how DJs construct musical performances. Yes, the average DJ does not "compose" any music, but neither does a cover band. People love hearing familiar songs, but DJs and cover bands can also slip-in some of their own, perhaps lesser-known musical preferences. It helps keep the industry going and allow the music of past and present to stay in people's minds. 

What's your take? What's your position on DJs vs live bands?

Music venues, profit margins, and the worth of musicians

Last week, I wrote a post in response to the degrading relationship between musicians and venues (read it here). 

While it's one thing to complain about the way things are, it's another matter entirely to try and devise solutions. This could easily segue into a rant about politics, but that's a discussion for another time.

Let's face it. Both venues and musicians want to make money. The common model for original acts has the venue making money from food and drink sales and the musicians making money from tip, CD/merch sales, and/or the cover charge. At its core, the model is not terribly unlike way large headlining acts work, only on a smaller scale. The venue provides a place to play, the act provides the fans, and money is made. 

Venues have to:

... pay the rent and bills

... buy the food and drinks to sell

... pay the employees

... buy and maintain the lighting, PA system, and any house instruments

All of that's pretty expensive and, like most businesses, completely dependent on how many people patronize your spot. As a venue, you want live music to attract more customers and keep them there longer.

Musicians want:

... to play in front of a decently-sized, appreciative audience

... turn patrons into dedicated fans

... be compensated for their efforts

It's on that last bit where things get hairy. Sometimes, musicians are content performing for free food and drinks. Often, those tend to be weekend warrior musicians who have a career and see music as a hobby. But who doesn't mind making some money? Let's try looking at it another way.

Let's say, hypothetically, that you as a venue were going to pay musicians minimum wage (what Chris Rock refers to as, "I'd pay you less, but it's against the law"). You hire a four-piece band for four hours of music. The minimum wage in my state at the time of writing is $7.25/hr. Multiply that by 4 people and you get $29/hr for the band. Multiply that by the four hours you want them and you come-up with a $116 total. Ah, but when you pay your employees, the clock starts ticking once they begin providing services (I'm thinking food prep and cleanup for a restaurant/bar). Let's add another hour for set-up and break-down because you decided that band can bring their own PA, amps, and drums. The total is $142 to pay a 4-piece cover band at minimum wage for four hours of music.

As a restaurant, you'd have to sell fourteen $10 dishes (and some change) or nearly thirty $5 drinks to just to pay the band (again at minimum wage), and that's not taking taxes or your own expenses to make the food/drinks into account.

So then there's the question: what's live music worth? What's it worth to the venue? What's it worth to the musicians? What's it worth to the people who listen to it? There's a lot of doom and gloom about the abysmal state of the music industry. We hear terms like "fall of the record labels," "flooded market," and the constant tearing down of the Justin Biebers that emerge. 

My generation is a product of the self-esteem movement. We grew up being told that we're all inherently special and unique (a logical fallacy) and deserve nothing but good things. However, does that mean that all musicians deserve to be able to make a full-time living? Of course not. The default answer is, "The good ones should be able to." Well, who are the good ones? 

Take a look at any prestigious music conservatory. Those are full of some of the most refined, highly trained, highly skilled musicians, yet, the classical music world has its struggles. Walk into a local open mic (here's a great resource to find one near you) and you're likely to see a mix of incredible, homebrew talent and people who just do it for fun. Each generation manages to find their stars. Those stars will make a lot of money. They might not be the best in their instrument or songwriting or live performance, but they are the best at capturing popular attention. 

This is all a round-about discussion to explore the idea of what musicians are worth financially. The easy answer can be boiled down to simple supply and demand. The more demand for a musician, the more that musician is worth. For a growing, independent artist, the main career move is finding out how to create a demand for his or her music. To a venue, a musician is only worth what he or she can draw. A crappy band that can bring out 100 people is a heck of a lot more valuable for a business than a really good band that has no fans. 

With the constant media blitz, it sometimes feels insurmountable to break through the clutter and get people's attention. People can carry days worth of music in their pocket and taylor what they listen to at a whim. Anyone who is Facebook friends with a musician probably gets show invites that he/she has trained himself/herself to immediately ignore.

So, one more time, what are musicians worth? Ask their fans. Ask the people that hire them. Musicians can't hide behind the current state of the industry for being unable to reach people. Every artist is a product of the times in which they are living. Venues, do your research to attract good, interesting musicians. Be straight with your expectations. If you find the entertainment to be valuable, pay for it. Just the same, musicians, do your research about venues and be realistic with your expectations and needs. If your local venues simply aren't doing it for you, innovate and find/create your own! (It's certainly something we should have done in the events described in last week's post.)

Next week: DJs versus live music.

Music venues in today's music scene

The Solo Musician Network of the Philadelphia and Delaware Valley (here's their Facebook page) posted this snarky response that mirrors disgruntled sentiments shared by many independent musicians:

Every performing artist has faced a situation like this. Venues love to use words like "exposure" and "networking" as if it's something they can guarantee in lieu of any tangible compensation. Just recently, I played at a venue (that will remain unnamed) that was run as if they decided to tack-on music in the hopes of making a profit. 

Tell me if this seems like a familiar situation: It was a restaurant with good food and a decently sized bar. My band, the Way Home, were coming from out of town and were tasked with the responsibility for filling out the bill, bringing four mics and stands, providing the entire back line (drums, bass amp, etc), and, of course, drawing a good-sized crowd. Thankfully, we'd be compensated with free food and drinks. No, wait ... we weren't. What a deal, right? Because we had a show the next night in the relative area, we foolishly accepted. 

As the opening act was finishing up, we were happy with the crowd that had filled the venue. We then realized, to our horror, that no one was taking cover from the door! When we brought this to the attention to the venue, they responded, "Oh, I thought you guys were going to handle that." As one of my astute bandmates pointed out, that's an incredibly flawed assumption, especially from a legal standpoint. If you're a business owner, do you really want a non-employee, someone whose income is based on how many people he/she admits, to be the gatekeeper for a 21+ venue? Is that really a risk worth taking?

But I digress. This is a symptom of the crumbling relationship between musicians and venues. As a musician, it's easy to point the finger in frustration and make everyone else out to be the bad guy, but the fact of the matter is that venues are hurting too. I feel that venues are shooting themselves in the foot if they're relying on bands, most of whom have little to no draw, as their primary source for patrons. Both parties have habits of trying to exploit each other for whatever they're worth. Venues want bands with big draws (big draws = more $$$). Bands want to play at venues with a big draw in hopes of finding new fans. If both places are constantly taking, neither benefit.

Now I'm not one to be able to speak intelligently about running a music venue, but I would think that running a successful venue is not terribly dissimilar to running a successful band. Both need to reach out to press, media, blogs, etc., to get "exposure" and good reviews. Both need to treat everyone with respect and dignity. Ultimately, both need to have good, compelling content and have a clear idea about their expectations. 

What I would love to see is an open dialog between venues and musicians. Both have needs and concerns about which the other side might not be fully aware. So I ask venues, what do you wish musicians knew about your side of the business? Musicians: what do you wish venues realized about the services you provide?

Next week, I'll be writing a post that explores profit margins between musicians and venues. 

Meet Ashley, the Mail Order Companion! (Takamine EG523SC Review)

Well, it's been a long time coming. I've been desiring a stage-worthy second jumbo guitar to accompany me on stage so I don't have to retune as many times during my sets and eventually settled on this beauty.

Photo: Jemarc A.

While the photo above doesn't portray my joy, I was as giddy as a playing puppy. But enough about my excitement. I'm here to provide answers to the questions I had before I bought it. Yes! I committed the sin of buying a guitar without playing it first! Did it pay-off?

Standing at attention.

Unplugged

Acoustic sound is important to me. The best pickups can't fix mediocre tone. Those familiar with my music know I play a lot of percussive fingerstyle. I like big, crisp sound. For a guitar in this price range, it sounds pretty decent. It's no sound canon, but it's no slouch either and can easily be heard outdoors amidst ambient foot traffic noise. I wouldn't mind more brilliance to the sound, but I've already put many hours of love into the strings this week, so it's probably about time to change them.

For drumming, the Takamine EG523SC has as tight-sounding body. The natural gloss finish is great for getting scratchy sounds. Overall, the body feels pretty sturdy. Bass drum hits aren't terribly boomy but sound alright. The preamp is placed at one of my favorite drumming spots, so that plus the cutaway is forcing me to find some new ways to approach guitar drumming.

The tuners definitely leave much to be desired. Even with the strings properly stretched and the guitar set to a temperature-neutral room, the stock devices don't hold the guitar in tune. Tuners will probably be my first upgrade for this guitar. The action is a tad on the low side for my preferences, but the truss rod adjusted smoothly and easily. I still have a bit more tweaking to do to dial it to my preference. [Note: I have since installed new tuners (Grover 106s), and I'm much happier with the on board tuner and the guitar's ability to hold its notes, even in alternate tunings.]

I'd also like to note that this guitar was my first time ever encountering a subtle, ringing sound that Antoine Dufour cites as the reason he keeps a handkerchief tied to the headstock of his guitar. I just might have to join him in his method to mute this phenomenon!

Ashley's lovely backside.

Electronics

This is a field where I'm not much of an expert. I can say that the tuner isn't all too accurate, but it's a nice function to have nevertheless. It's chromatic and gets in the ballpark. Then again, maybe new tuning mechanisms will help. [As noted above, they did. A lot.] The EQ works nicely and provides a variety of tones. The pickup system sounds fairly natural, but it doesn't pick-up on body vibrations as much as I'd like. I plan on installing some trusty K&K's in the near future and running a setup similar to the Shadow systems Epiphone and Gibson uses. [I have the K&K's but am going to need tools I don't have at the moment to install them. Because of the way the guitar is built and wired, the instructions aren't terribly useful and necessitate some MacGyver-ing.]

That said, the pickup and preamp provide good dynamic range without being too punchy. The knobs work well, and everything is located in a convenient place. The 9V battery slot works like a dream, especially compared to the messy K&K Ultra Pure system I installed on my Alvarez AJ60S. For conventional guitar playing, this is a pretty convenient stage setup. If you like doing a lot of tinkering with electronics, the Takamine system has a bit of an unconventional build requiring some creativity when adjustments.

Miscellaneous

I'm used to playing on jumbos, but people have remarked that this is a very big feeling guitar. I was hoping that the bass frequencies would be more boomy than they are, but I'm hoping that it'll improve as the guitar gets played more and broken-in over time. I didn't notice it when I took the pictures, but the top nut is poorly designed. The grooves for the strings are uniform in size such that the larger strings sit on top of the gap instead of inside them. I'll probably have to sand them later so the fit is better.

On a lot of reviews, people complained that the action was high. However, I think it's more a matter of adjusting the truss rod so the neck is properly aligned (there are plenty of videos that detail how to do this, but if you're not comfortable doing it, have a professional set it). Ashley showed up with a crooked neck but was much more playable after going chiropractor on her, even with the 13-56 gauge strings I use.

It's nice to have a guitar that doesn't need end pins to secure the strings; I'm clumsy and tend to drop/lose things easily. However, restringing is a little cumbersome since the tips of the strings tend to get caught in the grain of the wood. It's not a big deal, but I would imagine that it could be frustrating in the dark, back stage of a venue if you don't have a screwdriver or pen to help guide the string along. 

Later, I'll upload some sample recordings of the pure acoustic sound and the plugged-in sound. That won't be for at least another week or so. I've logged many hours of play and even got some performing in with this Takamine EG523SC, and I'm really digging it as a workhorse guitar, especially after getting good tuning mechanisms and my preferred string gauges installed. I still like the sound of my cheaper Alvarez AJ-60S more, but seeing how it's currently out of commission due to a broken pickup, this will do just fine, especially once I install the second set of pickups. The finish is thin, so clumsy blokes like myself be aware: the guitar will dent easily!

The Breakdown

Pros

+ Pickups sound nice. Chromatic tuner, 3-band EQ, volume, notch filter (used to fight feedback), and EQ signal cancel.

+ Battery and string replacement a breeze.

+ Strumming sounds great: full and vibrant for a guitar in this price range.

+ Cutaway provides comfortable, easy access to the top frets. 

+ Good workhorse guitar.

Cons

- Stock tuning mechanisms are terrible.

- The battery cover will buzz, especially on those big, beefy chords.

- Not as much clarity for fingerpicking.

- Pickups don't project body hits very well.

- Top nut needs carving to fit the strings properly.

RIP Mile High Skates. It's the end of an era!

Mile High Skates has gone out of business. I lament.

In 2004, I saw my first longboard skateboard an knew right away that I wanted one. I convinced my parents to buy me my first longboard instead of a bike when I went off to college. I got a beautiful, 47" Sector 9 bamboo pintail with Exkate Torsion trucks, 70mm Kryptonics, and no-name bearings (the board was stolen from me a few years ago, and I still miss it). When it arrived, I rode it so much that the grip tape had a foot-sized bald spot on my third day of ownership. Not long after that, I broke the trucks and had my first experience with longboard skate-related customer service.

Exkate sent me replacements for free, but the process took a while. In the meantime, I borrowed a friend's girlfriend's trucks. As I rode more, I became increasingly interested in the gear I rode and spent a slightly unhealthy amount of time participating at the Silverfish Longboarding forums. There, among many helpful skaters from around the world, I came across Mile High Mark and his online store, Mile High Skates.

At the time, online vendors of longboard skateboards were few and far between, but Mark stood as a unique model from which many other stores would follow in the years to come. All of the gear he carried was solid gear. He offered them at reasonable prices and, above all, made customer service a priority. He'd patiently answer any questions a buyer might have, give his recommendations, and include plenty of cool, free goodies with purchases. For example, he went out of his way to include a non-skate-related sticker that was funny and relatable to my personality. After establishing myself as a gearhead, he even asked me for advice on a particular setup. For me, it was like Mark Twain asking me for writing advice: he probably didn't need it, but it was thrilling that he asked. 

Now granted, I spent a lot of money at Mark's store which never hurts in the customer service department, but he actively participated on the online conversation, sponsored skate events before they were profitable, and really contributed to the helpful, open vibe that I felt characterized the longboard skateboard scene. 

I write this partially as a eulogy of sorts but more so as a huge, celebratory "Thank you!" to Mark for the countless hours of skate-induced joy I've had over the years. To this day, I continue to ride gear I bought at your store and thank that it made certain setup options available that I wouldn't have had otherwise. 

Loose trucks save lives and are best for sliding my friend. Enjoy some pie.